Private Project

Heal The Land

Heal the Land follows the start of Heal Rewilding’s journey establishing its blueprint nature recovery site near Frome in Somerset. This documentary showcases the evolving landscape and reveals its beauty and resilience, focussing on some of the wildlife which has already begun to benefit from the changes on site.
 
Follow the highs and lows of the passionate team at Heal, hear experts share insights into rewilding and discover how it supports wildlife recovery and helps to restore fully functioning ecosystems. The film is full of surprises, from rare species sightings to unexpected transformations, and celebrates the delicate balance of nature and the powerful promise rewilding offers for generations to come. Heal the Land invites viewers to reflect on their connection to the natural world and the role they play in its recovery.

The film is entirely shot at the rewilding site, with no stock footage used. A delicate approach to filming wildlife was taken, with assistance from an ecologist. This led to the use of trap cameras being utilised for many close encounters in order to not disturb the wildlife.

  • Tom Francome
    Director
  • Hayley Smith
    Director
  • Hayley Smith
    Producer
  • Tom Francome
    Offline Editor
  • Dylan Evans
    Online Editor and Colourist
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Short
  • Runtime:
    24 minutes 58 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    December 4, 2024
  • Production Budget:
    5,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United Kingdom
  • Country of Filming:
    United Kingdom
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    2.35:1
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Tom Francome, Hayley Smith

Presenting his debut self-funded doc, Tom is a newcomer in the wildlife filmmaking scene. Having run his own video production company taking on branded and commercial work, he has funded this short film following the charity, Heal Rewilding. Tom has also worked on other documentaries for BBC, ITV and Nat Geo, including the critically acclaimed series, 'Photographer'.

With nearly 30 years’ experience in the TV industry, Hayley is a natural history specialist.
Her credits include award-winning global hit series Meerkat Manor, Wild Britain with Ray Mears and Pygmy Hippo – A Very Secret Life for BBC2’s flagship series Natural World. In 2019, her BBC4 feature-length documentary Nature’s Turtle Nursery revealed for the first time the extraordinary incubation and hatching of eggs inside an olive ridley turtle’s nest during the mass nesting event in Costa Rica and was shortlisted for a Grierson Award.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

Having produced content for Heal Rewilding on a voluntary basis, we were fascinated by the quick gains Heal were seeing on site. We met through the charity and decided it was time to turn the cameras on and capture what we were seeing on our visits. What started as a small idea with no budget, quickly grew into 26 shoot days after some key discoveries. We were delighted to receive some help from Films@59, taking on some of the post-production.

The filming process was a delicate one, witnessing, in real time, keystone species arrive that would transform the land. A considerate approach had to be taken to not disrupt them settling in, so we worked with Heal's ecologists in order to not disturb the rewilding process.